Obviously I’m going to eat (hopefully some super quick meals that are more “assembly” rather than “cooking” will still be satisfying) but exercise is the easiest thing to push off the schedule when life gets in the way. So how do you find time to exercise when it seems like there is no time to spare? My answer for now is going to be “You have to make it a major priority“. My deadlines are not for a few weeks but it’s a lot of work and I have to have the discipline to work with this in mind. The last few days may get tough, but until then I’m willing to do whatever it takes – that may mean waking up early on some days, or working until very late because I want to go to the gym during lunch. I also will try to increase the intensity of my workouts so that less time at the gym still provides me with a quick burn that I crave. Finally, that also means that some other things will have to suffer. I am sure my DVR will miss me dearly (or maybe not, I know I’ll miss it) and as previously mentioned, elaborately cooked meals will be out of the window for the next few weeks. Some healthy take-out once in a while will also give me a little extra time. Lastly weekend work will surely be required. It’s easy to get so stressed out about work that you don’t allow any time for other activities and burn out quickly, but I’m going to attempt to still take care of my body in the meantime. Do you have any other tips?

Onto today’s eats…

BREAKFAST

Raspberry apricot scone, siggi’s vanilla yogurt, fresh raspberries and strawberries

I froze this scone last week and microwaved it for a minute this morning. Unfortunately the microwave totally fried it. This was a little softer than a rock.

MID-MORNING SNACK

I had 1 almond stuffed date form the little batch I made last night. Here is how the whole “process” looks…

(From left to right): whole medjool date, medjool date cut open with pit inside, date stuffed with almonds, date stuffed with pecans, date stuffed with one of each.

A few closeups… easy, right?

So yeah, I had the guy on the left this morning. He tasted oh so sweet.

LUNCH

Leftovers from last night’s dinner at Panza saved me time today as well.

“Free form lasagna” - black pepper pasta sheets, chicken, mushrooms, spinach, plum tomato ricotta sauce (I had mine without the chicken)

Panza was a really great restaurant (casual, yet inviting, great service, delicious unpretentious food) and this dish was fantastic. I loved the fun shapes of the pasta and the chunky tomato ricotta sauce. If I go back there and order this dish again (very likely!), I’m going to ask for extra mushrooms.

After taking this picture, I also added a handful of cannelloni beans for protein. It was a great lunch!

WORKOUT

After all this talk about finding time for exercise, I did in fact find some time for a bootcamp class tonight. I’ve gained weight recently and its impacting my performance at the gym but it’s not going to stop me from keep trying. In fact, I’m using it as a challenge to get back into it and get even better than I was before!

DINNER

Super quick! Beet greens, diced tomatoes, pesto potato salad, roasted beets, goat cheese and pecan fritatta

Quick side note: the pesto potato salad I made for the pool party on Saturday. It’s this week’s CEiMB recipe hosted by The Not So Skinny Kitchen (recipe here). I am not a fan of the mayo-based potato salads but this one was quite delicious. The fresh peppers were an especially delicious addition – they added a great crunch and lots of brightness to this dish. Pics from the pool party set-up…

So yeah, I threw some of the leftover potatoes/peppers into the pan for some extra heft and carbs. I also pre-roasted the beets end of last week (sliced, at 350* for about 20 minutes). Tonight, I sauteed some beet greens in a sprayed skillet, then added 1/2 can of diced tomatoes, roasted beets and potato salad, cracked 2 eggs and finally threw a few pecans in. That was on the stove for a few minutes, then under the broiler for a few more. Done!

Another un-photogenic meal that was really delicious. Obviously beets + goat cheese go well together. The rest of the ingredients enhanced this combo further. Look at all these veggies!!

This was the perfect quick dinner… and the perfect ending to a great day of eats. I will say I’d love something sweet right about now but it’s getting late and I can probably do without. Maybe at least a sweet apple is in my future.

What are your go-to recipes on a super busy night? Mine will have to be sandwiches and stir-fries.

How do you fit exercise in during super busy days/weeks/months? I’m all ears!

BREAKFAST

Spinach, grape tomato and feta omelet

I used 1 egg and 1 egg white for this guy. As you can see, it completely fell apart but man, was it delicious. Salty from the feta, fresh from the pop of the tomatoes. Yum!

With the omelet I also had a little piece of toast, and grabbed this orange to go.

LUNCH

We had pizza at work during a meeting. I picked what I thought was a mushroom/artichoke pizza – that one looked wonderful… until I discovered a ton of pepperoni under the veggies. No picture but let’s just say I was picking at my food like a 5 year old. I had a whole mountain of peperoni on my plate and a million napkins all around me when I was done. So professional. I had 2 slices and stayed away from the super market cookies. I had something way better for me waiting in the fridge…

TREAT

Some of you were close with your guesses in my last post. I made cookies ‘n cream cheesecake bars following this recipe from Food for Living. I literally saw it yesterday morning and then stopped by the grocery store on the way home to pick up the ingredients and baked them that night. I like having healthier baked goods around so that I’m less tempted to stop by a bakery and buy something 10 times worse for me and way more expensive.

I resisted the urge to have a whole photo shoot of these guys. Lauren already did a wonderful job. The cheesecake bar tasted so delicious. The crust was thin and moist, the cheesecake was creamy with a touch of sweetness. I like that these are not overwhelmingly sweet. You can really taste the quality of the ingredients. I love making cheesecake bars – this recipe is a keeper!

WORKOUT

After work I headed to the track for a workout with Boston Performance Coaching. You may remember I’ve done it once before and was terribly hard on myself. It was a tough workout, one I wasn’t particularly excited to go back to (since I’m not even training for a race) but I wanted coach Ali to look at my running form again so I signed up. The Harvard Track was actually being used for some kind of a race so we went to this dinky little side track and did laps there. That made them much shorter and a lot more manageable. Still hard but doable. This time Christina (I think?) was coaching and she said my problem is my arms. I cross them while I run which is inefficient and hurts my back. I tried to relax my shoulders down this time. Something I must work on. She was right. I felt very accomplished after we finished and actually ended up walking back home too, which was a little over 3 miles. It was nice out and Adam was out so I took advantage.

Speaking of running – who wants to see super embarrassing race photos of me? You can find them here. Terrible stuff.

DINNER

Get ready for some more ugly food…

All I could think about was a quesadilla on my walk home. So that’s what I had. Here are the insides:

Corn, peppers, mushrooms

Spicy black bean sauce and grape tomatoes – plus Cabot horseradish cheese all over (I couldn’t find our grader so I used a microplane)

All folded and grilled on the pan – a giant mess! (the little dish is the stuff that felt out that I still wanted to eat )

It burnt instantly on one side and wouldn’t brown up on the other. It was exactly what I wanted, taste wise though. A little spicy and definitely veggie-full. I had some more spicy black bean dip with lime tortilla chips while prepping and after dinner. I think these need to be banned from our house. So good, I can’t handle it.

I ended up watching too much trashy tv before finally going to bed so I’m a bit slow this morning. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to enter my giveaway (here).

Have you had any ugly food lately that was still tasty?

The choice of this recipe came at the right time. I have a confession: I’ve been bored with my breakfasts lately. I don’t know what it is – they have been delicious, that’s not it. I just wanted something new and exciting. Something completely different from the usual yogurt, english muffin, oats, smoothie, Barney Butter and some kind of fruit combination.

So despite the fact that I’m typically a sweet breakfast kinda girl, I was excited for this recipe. Adam was too.

I meant to prep the ingredients last night but then time got away from me. So I set the alarm for 30 minutes early and got to work. I steamed the potatoes (they retain more nutrients if you steam them instead of boiling them) and then followed the rest of the instructions to the T (except that I of course omitted the onions). In 30 minutes I had breakfast. A delicious and new and exciting breakfast. Success!

Mmm, runny yolk. It really pulled it all together. A little hot sauce over the top brightened up the dish further.

This was flavorful and filling. I have a feeling I should be very satisfied until lunch time.

Are you into a savory or sweet kind of breakfast? What’s your favorite breakfast combo lately?

BREAKFAST

The breakfast pizza is back! This one was made of ww wrap, 1T Barney Butter, oikos, 1/2 pear, Zoe’s granola and cocoa nibs

SO good – so many textures + flavors (+ it’s pretty filling in a perfectly satisfying way)

MID-MORNING DESSERTS

Leftover Easter desserts were all over my office. I partook in some of them…

+ another little piece of sweet ricotta pie. I thought I was done with sweets by then.

LUNCH

Another meatball banh mi sandwich. I had to

+ an orange. I missed these guys!

PRE-WORKOUT SNACK

Chocolate granola bar

WORKOUT

Abs + Rack-it-Up classes. We had a new instructor who was a million times harder. I was dying on set #10 of push-ups (only a slight exaggeration – actually maybe that’s not an exaggeration at all).

DINNER

Dinner was fabulous once again. I followed this recipe from Cara’s Cravings for spinach & artichoke frittata. I used 3 eggs, 2 egg whites (all the eggs we had left), and added some chickpeas (maybe 1/2 can) for satiety + grape tomatoes for freshness.

I am so annoyed with how horrible the pictures came out because this was a really great dinner! The gooey goat cheese was definitely the star ingredients but all the other veggies played very nicely together. The grape tomatoes were a great idea too, if I say so myself.

Okay, so this was dinner. After that I had 1 cookie dough (last one) and then some roasted almonds, then a zbar, an orange and a serving of trail mix. I think it was a combination of wanting more cookies (we didn’t have any) and guilt associated with my mile-long to-do list that I wasn’t doing anything about. Also with the fact that I already ate way too much today and yet someone still craved more sweets (I know, I know, many of you find that if you eat sweets, you want more of them but I can’t cut them out of my diet. I will go crazy!). Anyways, it’s done and over with. Today is a new day (although I’m not going to lie – it’s really hard to start over when you still feel disgusting. The idea of food just grosses me out right now. Bleh).

So here is the schedule for this week…

Today – run/walk with Shannon during lunch, drinks with reader Melissa and husband at night

Tomorrow – SHRED class during lunch, photography class after work

Thursday – yoga class during lunch, Taste of the Nation after work (is anyone else going to that?)

Friday – ARUBA!!! But before that, I also need to try my bathing suit on and not freak out, pack all clothes, get my nails done, pre-schedule guest posts and do a few million other things. Getting on that plane will feel SWEET.

What’s your week looking like? I always seem to overbook myself, especially before vacations.

During my lunch break I went to City Sports and bought myself all sorts of fancy shmancy running stuff – a water belt, running gloves and a new warm long sleeve running tee. It got COLD here in Boston. How many gadgets can you fit on one person?

After work I got dressed and set out for a run. I didn’t have a distance in mind and I wanted to take it easy just in case I decided to run the half marathon this weekend after all. Um yeah, the run did not go well. My legs were heavy and I just wasn’t into it. The entire time I was thinking about all these other things I was excited about doing after my half was over – like more bootcamp classes, trying a new zoomba class my co-workers have been raving about, bringing yoga back into my life – all these workouts that had to be on the back burner while I was training for the half! I put all my energy and thoughts into preparing for Sunday’s race. I think I’m ready to move on. Over the past 3.5 months running has become more than a challenging workout – I learned to love it, but I need to spread the love a little. I’ll still run on occasion during the winter, but I want to concentrate on strength, yoga and spinning during the colder months. I’ll pick up running again next year when it warms up

BREAKFAST

Egg, ham & cheese on a FFL english muffin + coffee

LUNCH

Delicious randomness: corn tortilla, green and yellow beans, borlotti beans, roasted root veggies, grape tomatoes, goat cheese

SNACKS

Caramel, pecan, chocolate chip brownie from Tendercrop Farms

Apple (ha!)

2 Ryvita crackers with Sabra hummus and a hard boiled egg – great combo, although I’m not in love with these crackers

DINNER

I had a fun dinner planned but somehow didn’t realize it required cheese, and we were all out. Plan B was a random pasta dish with wild mushrooms based on this recipe from Cooking Light. I used TJ’s lemon parpadelle pasta, added lemon zest to the mushrooms, omitted the onions, and subbed skim milk + 1 laughing cow wedge for the whipping cream. I really enjoyed this dish although it could definitely be more saucy. Adam thought there was too much lemon and mushrooms and asked if I could take the rest for lunch. Oh well, at least I didn’t slave over dinner for hours

Dinner also included a glass of white wine and some chocolate covered almonds for dessert. Can’t wait for those things to be gone. Note to self: never buy a giant container of choc covered almonds again!!

I’m off to bed, getting up early to take a strength class with Coco. I’m excited to dedicate more time to other kinds of workouts besides running. What’s your favorite type of exercise?

Molly, Kirsten and I picked up our numbers earlier today. We’re all super excited

Oh and I FOUND MY IPOD NANO!!!!! No clue how it got there, but it was in my smaller purse. Seriously, it must have jumped in there on its own because I really don’t know why it would be there. Either way, I’m not complaining. Yay!

YESTERDAY’S EATS:

Next post will likely be a race recap!!

What I found interesting is that despite feeling uncomfortable in my big pants, I am hesitant to put them in the donation bin. They are only 1 size larger than I am today! What if I gain a few pounds? If you’ve lost weight before, did you hold on to your old clothes or got rid of them as soon as they got too big? I got rid of pants that were several sizes too big, but these ones I’m struggling with… even though I feel like I’ve reached my comfortable weight (i.e. I stopped dieting and am maintaining this weight with little effort)!

BREAKFAST

Banana oats with white chocolate chips, almonds, pecans, raisins and cranberries + coffee

Warm and creamy. I gave a taste to Adam because this bowl was just extra good and he said he wanted me to make oats for him next time

LUNCH

Turkey/laughing cow/grape sammie on Nature’s Pride whole wheat + carrot sticks

The combo of creamy cheese, slightly salty turkey and super sweet grapes was divine. All of you non-vegetarians must try this sandwich!!!!

SNACKS

Oikos + 1/2 banana + Nature’s Path Heritage cereal (unpictured – added the cereal last minute at my desk)

Chocolate chip z-bar

100 calorie almonds pack

DINNER

I haven’t had time to hit the gym again (work ) so making a healthy dinner was the only way I could “treat” myself. I followed this recipe for parmesan polenta with eggs and roasted mushrooms.  This dinner took a lot longer than the promised 20 minutes (could be my sloooow oven and only 2 burners), but it was really worth it!!! This is comfort food for me.

I am really obsessed with mushrooms and their woodsy flavor paired so nicely with the creamy cheesy polenta. We only had 1 egg left, so I decided to add shrimp to Adam’s dinner. While I was cooking the shrimp, I forgot about my egg and it cooked a little too long. No runny egg. I bet it would have really tied everything together. In any case, I LOVED my dinner (Adam just liked it)

After dinner I watched the Biggest Loser (ok, I totally understand now who Jillian referred to as the devil… she clearly hates this girl!!!) and ate some pecans and 2 Kashi cookies. I didn’t need those; I just really wanted this food for the taste of it. I went to bed feeling quite guilty, although I know it wasn’t really about the nuts or cookies but rather a combination of feeling bluh all day (boo baggy pants), being hungry all day (I fed myself healthy snacks to remedy that), skipping the gym (need to make it a priority no matter what!) and then eating when not hungry. Every time I feel like I lose a good amount of weight and start feeling good about my body, I begin to gain. I think I felt guilty because I was scared.

How do you dress? Do baggy clothes comfort you or do you like to show off your curves?

Only a few days left to enter the Lazy Baker cookie mix giveaway. Get those extra bonus points. The cookies are worth it!!!

The bread was from Nature’s Pride Bread and I received it through participation in Foodbuzz’s Tastemaker program. Taste testing is definitely one of my favorite things! Here are the two loaves – 100% whole wheat and 12 grain. All the breads are 100% natural with no artificial ingredients, no HFCS, no trans fat, etc. Perfect!

I dug into the whole wheat loaf first thing in the morning. This kind of soft bread is perfect for french toast for breakfast and as I found out today for egg in the hole! I had my lovely egg in the hole with some mascadine grapes + regular organic red grapes. Sweet grapes + egg and toast are a heavenly combo. The whole wheat bread was also so delicious. Very soft and flavorful, not rubbery at all like whole wheat breads sometimes are. I’d say it’s a whole wheat bread for whole wheat bread haters! *I’m going to test this theory on Adam soon.*

Mmm, egg in a hole. Yum!

Mid-morning snack revolved around another slice of Nature’s Pride bread – this time the 12 grain kind. There are little seeds inside the bread. Again, the bread was very soft with great texture and a touch of sweetness. I toasted it a bit, slathered it with a light laughing cow wedge and topped it with some more organic red grapes. Wow, what an awesome snack! Sweet (grapes) + savory (cheese) = satisfied Elina

This snack also perfectly fueled me though a bootcamp style workout. Coco joined me for the class today and I thought she was going to kill me at some point. We did the usual interval training for a while (alternating between weights and cardio for 1 minute) and then the instructor told us to put everything away and we started doing team sprints from one end of the studio to another. Wholly cow. I was sweating buckets, and kind of felt like I was back in high school… except this time I think I was in a better shape Thankfully Coco was a trooper and said she liked it overall. This was definitely quite the class to try out for the first time at my gym. We didn’t ease her into it at all

Lunch: leftover cheddar crusted salmon with sweet roasted broccoli + heirloom grape tomatoes

Mid-afternoon snack: Heart Thrive apricot bar (reused pic)

This cookie bar sat like a rock in my stomach all afternoon. I was happy it did because it made a cupboard full of treats or worse, a trip to the bakery, that much easier to resist. Yeah, work got MEGA stressful again, and my instincts are to eat. I am NOT giving in. I will fuel my body the right way!!

After a 10-hour work day, I had absolutely zero desire to cook dinner. Luckily a newsletter from b.good with a special buy one/get one free offer made dinner an obvious choice. I got the b.good turkey burger: caramelized onions, mushrooms, garlicky greens, steak sauce (sans the onions of course!) and stole a few baked fries from Adam.

These pictures do not do this fabulous burger justice!! It was SO juicy and flavorful. The garlicky sauteed spinach and mushrooms were seriously incredible. I kept on saying how much this dinner rocked the entire time we were eating. Adam enjoyed his “usual” – beef el guapo. I’m adding the “b.good burger” to my rotation at b.good (current other favorites: southwestern chicken salad and the turkey el guapo).

Dinner without dessert? Not on this blog! I had a small slice of the chocolate fudge cheesecake when we got back home. Yeah, that’s how you end a night of perfectly delicious eats!

Do you have a favorite bread brand? I used to be obsessed with Ezekiel bread but now am not a fan for some reason (despite still LOVING their english muffins). There is also a Whole Foods organic spelt bread that I enjoy and of course a good crusty baguette on occasion cannot be beat.  For a soft bread I haven’t found “the one” yet. Nature’s Pride Bread could become just that very soon. I was seriously impressed!!!

Oh, how could I almost forget… if you haven’t already, go enter my Lazy Baker cookie mix giveaway!!

So here we go… When I was in a hardcore losing weight mode last year, I counted calories religiously for 6 days, then went 100% nuts on day 7. I worked out during those 6 days and had the seventh day as my “rest day” – from everything!  I ate all day long, whatever I wanted, and of course gained some weight due to this one “cheat day” but overall I lost more during the week so the number on the scale was going down and my workouts helped shape my body.  I thought that this approach was a good one – for me. I accepted the fact that I was an all-or-nothing person and thought that I figured out a way to make things work with this handicap.  Unfortunately, it looks like the second I stop counting calories, my brain thinks it’s “day 7″ so all bets are off – and my binge eating is triggered again. This is not healthy and I’m stopping this madness. I’m serious this time! <– scary smiley face=I’m serious

Oh, about my plan. I’ve been emailing back and forth with Eve, who’s been absolutely wonderful. Eve is an RD in NYC and I wish I still lived there. I think she would have been a huge help to me! Anyways, she said something very basic yet kind of genius. She said that I still needed rules even if I stop counting calories … and she’s right! I work well with rules. That’s how I lost weight before. I just need some slightly softer rules now as I’m trying to resolve my food issues and lose weight slowly. So here is my new rule: I can have 1 treat (any treat) a day, every day, if I want one. If I know I’ll be going out at night, I’ll eat super clean during the day. If I want a large cookie or a special dessert, I can have it too… but just 1, and I have to eat super clean for the rest of the day to provide my body with the nutrients it needs. Simple, right? Today I allowed myself to have a treat, but I didn’t want one! I passed by free office cookies with no problems, and then passed by a cute brownie stand at the farmers market like it was nothing. I wanted cleaner foods so I rolled with it. I think I’m still kind of disgusted by Tuesday’s incident. It won’t last long but it’s ok, because I can have a treat every day if that’s what I really want. I won’t lose weight as fast, but it’s ok. I’ll be sane, and with my workouts I think I will still be able to lose some weight. Thanks again, Eve!!

Onto today’s cleanish eats. I’m so proud!

In the bowl: TJ’s organic nonfat european style yogurt, 1 fresh apricot, cantaloupe chunks, fresh blueberries, Kashi Golean cereal, Zoe’s almond cranberry granola (just a tiny handful) + cacao nibs. I feel like I haven’t had a big yogurt bowl like that in forever. This was delicious!!! The cacao nibs were really subtle. I still can’t figure them out – they’re either intense and bitter, or get lost in the mix. I’m going to keep experimenting

Mid morning snack: Nature’s Path organic cinnamon apple instant oatmeal + 1T Justin’s cinnamon peanut butter. This was such an amazing snack! It was sweet but hearty. I’m going to buy more packets to keep on hand for dessert. Seriously, I think this may satisfy my sweet tooth on many occasions going forward. Yay for new discoveries

Lunch was random (another dinner sans leftovers): yellow cauliflower from the farmers market (microwaved for 2 minutes) +Annie’s white cheddar organic mac & cheese. I added the cauliflower to the cooked pasta and then added the cheese powder to make everything nice and cheesy.  Actually this was kind of ass kicking

Mid afternoon treat: decaf tea + 2 Indigo Rabbit heavenly chocolate pillows

Dinner was also ass kicking! I followed this recipe from Cooking Light for tomato goat cheese strata (found through Tri To Cook). We didn’t have enough eggs so I halved it. So delicious!! Adam said it was like a fancy deconstructed egg and cheese. Okay – whatever works

Multiply this slice by 2. This is only 1/2 serving shown here… I went back for seconds

Dessert: 2 turkish dried apricots. These guys are extra sweet!!

If you can’t tell from the tone of this post, I’m in a fantastic mood! I feel a lot more in control and feel like I am finally making true progress. I have a special treat in the oven that I will enjoy tomorrow since it’s 10pm right now. Yay to being rational

Running for time instead of distance was liberating at first, but I also learned that I can’t run too fast, because I wouldn’t complete my run any faster if I did… just get more tired All in all, I was proud when I was done. This was the longest run I’ve done outside to date, without stopping to walk. A 10K will be even longer, so I really hope I get to do this more often (treadmill running does not compare, although it definitely helped me get to the point where I am today).  Workout stats:

• Duration: 0:53 (that’s 40 minutes of running + 13 minutes of walking) + stretching
• Calories: 514 (40% fat)
• Ave HR:157 (81%); Max HR: 177 (91%)

Oh and I guess since we started with workout-talk today, I should mention that I also Shredded (level 3) this morning. I missed it, believe it or not… so I really enjoyed this morning’s workout. I also really liked that when I was done with work, I could have a glass of wine with some co-workers and not worry that I still had to exercise Shredding stats:

• Duration: 0:25 + stretching
• Calories: 178 (50% fat)
• Ave HR: 132 (68%); Max HR: 161 (81%)

EATS

[42 calories]

[400 calories]

[202 calories]

The snack above was kick-ass! Seriously I could not believe how amazing it was… and it was SUPER filling. 2.5 hours after I had it, I was still a little full, but I had to go on my run or I knew it wouldn’t happen.  I’ll be sure to keep this combo in mind!  Awesome awesome awesome!

The stars of lunch were cakes I made from leftover butternut squash risotto. I made 2 patties out of 1/4 of the recipe, dipped them in 1 egg white and about 2.5T of ww bread crumbs. I then pan fried them (in pan covered in EVOO spray) for a few minutes on each side until golden brown.

You know you want one

[452 calories]

For dinner, I was planning on making some crab cakes, but time totally escaped from me and at the last minute I decided to just bake the TJ’s wild mushroom and black truffle flatbread pizza we had in the freezer (for emergencies just like today). This is 1/2 of the pizza… and I’m going to say again that it’s the best (frozen) pizza ever! I’d choose this over take-out any day…. ok, unless I’m craving some veggies on it or something But yeah, this was decadent and indulgent and I want some more right now (I’m half-way kidding about that one… mmm truffled pizza).

[350 calories]

And then I had one of the chocolate-pecan macaroons I made earlier in the night (and that’s why I had no time left to make “real” dinner). I made them for my parents for passover – they use matzo meal and I thought they’d like them. They did! I made them extra decadent by adding chocolate chips to the batter. I’d say the chips were key! Oh and mine were much flatter than the ones in the Cooking Light picture, but they were also a bit bigger… I made 23 (instead of 26). Whatever, they were yummy (but honestly not amazing… pretty good for flourless cookies though).

[113 calories] + I later had another 1/2… another 56 calories

After finishing dinner, my husband and I went to my parents’ house to deliver the cookies. I had another 1.25 glasses of red wine there (+ as mentioned above 1 glass with co-workers after work)… that’s 2.25 glasses (~225 calories]

Total calories consumed today:1922 (eek!)

I’m leaving for NY tomorrow afternoon. I probably won’t be able to blog during the weekend, but I’ll definitely be back with a full recap. I’m sure you’re not surprised to hear that we have no plans but eat and drink for 2.5 days straight!